The Mel behind Mel Kelly Cakes and Bakes and this is my first foray into the blogging world so you’ll have to forgive my amateur ramblings at this stage. It’s been a fair (ahem) number of years since I did any form of writing since my GCSE English Language days, albeit it certainly doesn’t feel that way. The 90s were 30 years’ ago?! Surely not.

So here I am, it’s 2020 and what a year this has been! At the start of the year I was working within addiction recovery services and at no point did I imagine that, fast-forward nine months, I would be surrounded with icing sugar, cake boxes, and sugar paste, sat designing and making cakes! Why the change I hear you say?

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I decided to put my life-long passion and hobby into something more

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I do not think that I am alone in saying this year has been difficult. In fact, I am probably joined by most of you in saying that we have all had our unique challenges this year. Mine started when I was completely burnt out from working within mental health and addiction services and in May this year I lost my job. Initially I was devastated and with the schools shut and still under lockdown, there was little chance of me being able to get another job. But after every dark night comes a bright day, so I decided to put my life-long passion and hobby into something more and went ahead and set up Mel Kelly Cakes and Bakes.

Not only do I wish to use Mel Kelly Cakes and Bakes for the as the name suggests, cakes and bakes, I aim to offer baking workshops to people in recovery from mental health difficulties and addictions (when Covid restrictions allow!). Baking is extremely therapeutic, and I will openly admit that having faced a number of difficult times throughout my life, baking has been a go to activity for me. It uses all the senses (taste obviously being a good one) and the step by step process and repetition involved makes it an extremely mindful activity. It’s a great way to escape from life’s stressors, take a step back and focus on the here and now. The bonus being at the end, you’ve made something lovely from scratch. Whether that be bread, cupcakes, cheesecake, a three-tiered cake spectacular or a homely apple turnover. Learn to laugh at yourself though and your baking fails. My first ever attempt at bread was well, not great. In fact, it would not have looked out of place in a scene from Murder She Wrote with Angela Lansbury’s lightbulb moment at having determined the murder weapon. It was a brick masquerading as bread.

So then, whilst baking and cake decorating are both my recovery tools and my passion (after my children of course!) they are now my bread and butter (couldn’t resist!) and I hope to use my blog to share recipes, cake decorating techniques, the ins and outs of running a cake business and my aim to get my workshops up and running.

There are a number of things I have learnt during ‘the year that should not be mentioned’; that there is beauty in simplicity, there is community and friendship in the smallest of gestures, and that our relationships with others are so important. A simple cupcake left on the doorstep of a neighbour for no other reason than to remind them that they are not alone. Which is why for me cakes are so special. You cannot help but smile when someone gives you a cake!

Mel x